Travis Hamonic's goal was the earliest by an Islander since Ryan Strome scored 54 seconds into the Isles' 3-2 shootout win in Columbus on February 9th … The Islander defense scored a goal for the 5th straight game, giving them eight goals in that span. The defense has combined for 9-12-21 this season; it's the first time the Isles defense has scored in 5 straight games since March 16-24, 2013…Brock Nelson had two points, giving him 29 points in 37 career October games (12-17-29) as he went 3-6-9 in nine games this month.…The Isles have won three straight games when they are rested, and the opponent is not, by a combined score of 14-6…Every Islander but Dennis Seidenberg had at least one shot on goal; both Seidenberg and Calvin deHaan were +3…James van Riemsdyk, who has had some big games against the Isles in the past, including his only hat trick, was -4 for Toronto, as was Tyler Bozak…The Isles have outscored their opponents 27-25 this season; they are +1 in both the 2nd period and overtime and are even in both the first period and third period… Anthony Beauvillier played in his 8th game of the season; he can play in one more game before the Isles need to make a decision whether to return him to Junior …Since opening the season 1-0-1, Toronto is 1-4-2 in their last seven games…The Isles allowed only one goal for the first time this season…13 of Shane Prince's 22 career points have come in 6 multi-point games

Offense From Defense

The Isles defense has scored at least once in at least five straight games, matching the longest streak in at least 29 years.

·5 – CURRENT

·5- March 16-24, 2013

·5- January 15-24, 2002

·5- October 21-30, 1997

·5-October 16-26, 1993

One-Sided Win

This was the most one-sided game between the Isles and Leafs in the Tavares era. It's the first time the Isles have beaten the Leafs by at least 4 goals since a 6-2 Coliseum win on December 17, 1993.

Milestone Men

Casey Cizikas, Calvin deHaan and Ryan Strome are all closing in on games played milestones. Cizikas played in his 299th game, while both deHaan and Strome played in their 198th NHL games.

Late Losses

The Isles have been tied in the third period in four of their five regulation losses. In each of the last three games, the Isles have allowed the lead goal in the final 3 minutes of regulation:

·10/18 – San Jose - Joe Pavelski (17:49)

·10/26 - Montreal - Shea Weber (17:03)

·10/27 – Pittsburgh - Sidney Crosby (17:35)

Lots of Home Cooking

The Isles are 4-3-0 in the first six games of an 11-game stretch in which they play 10-out of-11 at home for the first time in their history. This includes two separate five game homestands, separated by a road game in Toronto.

The Shots

Isles 13-12-10=35

Toronto 10-17-7=34

The Isles are 4-1-0 when they outshoot their opponents, but are 0-4-0 when they are outshot.

Home and Road

The Islanders are 4-5-0 overall; 4-2-0 at home and 0-3-0 on the road.

Toronto is 2-4-3 overall; 2-1-0 at home and 0-3-3 on the road.

By Division

The Isles are 0-3-0 in Division games and 4-2-0 in games versus other divisions (1-1-0 vs. Atlantic, 1-0-0 vs. Central and 2-1-0 vs. Pacific).

Last season the Isles went 18-8-4 in Division games and 27-19-6 in games against other divisions. The Isles went 19-7-2 against the Western Conference, including 12-0-2 at home.

In the Nets

Thomas Greiss made 33 saves and improves to 2-2-0 on the season and 3-1-1 in his career against Toronto.

Jhonas Enroth made 29 saves but falls to 0-2-0 on the season and 2-5-0 against the Isles in his career.

Power Plays

The Islanders were 0-2 on the power play, while Toronto was 1-3.

The Isles are 0-3-0 when they score at least one power play goal and 4-2-0 when they do not. The Isles are 1-3-0 when they allow at least one power play goal and 3-2-0 when they do not.

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 4-1-0 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 0-4-0 when they do not. The Isles were 37-4-2 when they scored at least three goals (including SO winners) last season.

One Goal Games

The Isles are 2-3-0 in games decided by a single goal including 1-3-0 in regulation. They are 1-0 in games decided in overtime and are 0-0 in shootouts. The Isles are 0-0 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1 goal game into a 2-goal game.

First Goal

The Isles are 3-0-0 when they score first and are 1-5-0 when they allow the opening goal.

Second to The One

Jack Capuano, the 2nd winningest coach in Islander history, is 214-180-56 behind the Islander bench. Among the 9 New York area teams, only the Yankees' Joe Girardi has led his team longer than Capuano.

Most games coached (Islanders):

1.Al Arbour 1,500

2.Jack Capuano 450

3.Mike Milbury 191

4.Terry Simpson 187

5.Scott Gordon 181

Most wins by Islander coaches:

1.Al Arbour 740

2.Jack Capuano 214

3.Terry Simpson 81

4.Peter Laviolette 77

5.Ted Nolan 74

Capuano is the 86th coach in NHL history to coach at least 400 games. His 214 wins places him 67th all-time, 1 behind Brent Sutter and 5 behind Herb Brooks.

Back-to-Backs

The Isles are 0-2-0 on the front-end of back-to-backs and 1-1-0 on the back-end. Last season, the Isles went 5-5-5 on the front-end and 9-3-3 on the back end of back-to-backs.

The Isles will play 16 sets of back-to-backs this season, but the next one is not until November 22 in Anaheim and November 23 in Los Angeles.

Tired vs. Rested

·The Isles are 1-0-0 when both teams played the night before.

·The Isles are 3-1-0 when they are rested and their opponents are not.

·The Isles are 0-1-0 when their opponents are rested and the Isles are not.

The Isles lead the season series one game to none (and two points to none). The teams will meet again in Brooklyn on February 6th before playing in Toronto on Valentine's Day.

The Isles are 9-3-2 in their last 14 games against Toronto.

On The Farm

Bridgeport took 2 out of 3 in their busy weekend as they improved to 4-3-0 on the season. Christopher Gibson made 27 saves on Friday and 22 saves on Saturday in wins over Springfield (5-1) and Lehigh Valley (5-4). Josh Ho-Sang and Michael dalColle each had a goal and an assist in the Saturday win. The Sound Tigers dropped a 2-0 decision (2nd goal an empty-netter) to Springfield on Sunday.

Bridgeport is back on the ice for a school day matinee at 11am Wednesday against Albany.

The homestand continues with the first meeting since last year's playoffs between the Islanders and the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The Lightning eliminated the Islanders in 5 hard-fought games in the 2nd round last spring; both of the Brooklyn games were decided in overtime.

The Bolts have lost three straight since opening 5-1-0, including a 6-1 defeat at Madison Square Garden on Sunday.

This is the first of five Islander games to be televised nationally this season. Rick Peckham and Brian Boucher will have the call of the game on NBCSN.

Eric Hornick has been the statistician on Islander home game telecasts since 1982. Information contained in "The Skinny" has been gathered from various sources. Follow Eric @ehornick on Twitter & on his blog http://www.nyiskinny.com./

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since January 21, 1982. Visit my blog: NYISkinny.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick

Friday, October 28, 2016

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 8

Pittsburgh 4, Isles 2

Sidney Crosby broke a 2-2 tie with a goal with 2:25 remaining and Phil Kessel added a power play goal 32 seconds later as the Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins improved to 5-0-1 at home with a 4-2 win over the Islanders before a sellout crowd of 18,422 at the newly-renamed PPG Paints Arena.

Shane Prince had tied the game just 1:57 before Crosby's winning tally; Prince had points on both Islander goals.

The Isles will end October winless on the road (0-3-0); it's only the 2nd time in club history that they have opened 0-3-0 on the road (2006-07).

The Isles allowed a goal in the first minute of the game for the first time since March 29, 2015 vs. Detroit…There have been five power play goals (2 for and 3 against) in the last two games after only 2 (1 and 1) in the first six games this season. … The Islander defense has scored seven goals in the last four games and has combined for 8-8-16 this season; it's the first time the Isles defense has scored in 4 straight games in since October 2014…Brock Nelson had two assists, giving him 27 points in 36 career October games (11-16-27)… Nick Leddy played a season-high 28:05; it was his second highest total as an Islander (29:26)…John Tavares played 23:53, highest for any forward this season…The Isles went a stretch of 9:47 in the third period without attempting a shot on goal…Sidney Crosby has points in 7 straight games against the Isles (5-6-11)…This was the 437th consecutive sellout for the Penguins at home…The Penguins scored a 4th goal for the first time this season….Pittsburgh has scored at least one power play goal in every home game this season…The Isles allowed four goals for the first time since Opening Night vs. the Rangers (5).

Late Losses

The Isles have been tied in the third period in four of their five regulation losses. In each of the last three games, the Isles have allowed the lead goal in the final 3 minutes of regulation:

·10/18 – San Jose - Joe Pavelski (17:49)

·10/26 - Montreal - Shea Weber (17:03)

·10/27 – Pittsburgh - Sidney Crosby (17:35)

Lots of Home Cooking

The Isles are 3-3-0 in the first six games of an 11-game stretch in which they play 10-out of-11 at home for the first time in their history. This includes two separate five game homestands, separated by this game in Pittsburgh.

The Shots

Isles 15-17-5=37

Pittsburgh 12-7-16=35

The 37 shots are a season high for the Isles.

The Isles are 3-1-0 when they outshoot their opponents, but are 0-4-0 when they are outshot.

Home and Road

The Islanders are 3-5-0 overall; 3-2-0 at home and 0-3-0 on the road. It's the first time since they were 13-16-0 through 29 games in the 2013-14 season that the Isles are 3 games under .500 on the road.

Pittsburgh is 5-2-1 overall; 5-0-1 at home and 0-2-0 on the road.

By Division

The Isles are 0-3-0 in Division games and 3-2-0 in games versus other divisions (0-1-0 vs. Atlantic, 1-0-0 vs. Central and 2-1-0 vs. Pacific).

Last season the Isles went 18-8-4 in Division games and 27-19-6 in games against other divisions. The Isles went 19-7-2 against the Western Conference, including 12-0-2 at home.

In the Nets

Jaroslav Halak made 31 saves but falls to 2-3-0 on the season and 7-5-0 in his career against Pittsburgh.

Marc Andre-Fleury made 35 saves and improves to 5-2-1 on the season and 23-10-4 against the Isles in his career. Only Henrik Lundqvist has beaten the Isles more often (30 times) than Fleury.

Power Plays

The Islanders were 1-6 on the power play, while Pittsburgh was 2-5.

The Isles are 0-3-0 when they score at least one power play goal and 3-2-0 when they do not. The Isles are 0-3-0 when they allow at least one power play goal and 3-2-0 when they do not.

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 3-1-0 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 0-4-0 when they do not. The Isles were 37-4-2 when they scored at least three goals (including SO winners) last season.

One Goal Games

The Isles are 2-3-0 in games decided by a single goal including 1-3-0 in regulation. They are 1-0 in games decided in overtime and are 0-0 in shootouts. The Isles are 0-0 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1 goal game into a 2-goal game.

First Goal

The Isles are 2-0-0 when they score first and are 1-5-0 when they allow the opening goal.

Second to The One

Jack Capuano, the 2nd winningest coach in Islander history, is 213-180-56 behind the Islander bench. Among the 9 New York area teams, only the Yankees' Joe Girardi has led his team longer than Capuano.

Most games coached (Islanders):

1.Al Arbour 1,500

2.Jack Capuano 449

3.Mike Milbury 191

4.Terry Simpson 187

5.Scott Gordon 181

Most wins by Islander coaches:

1.Al Arbour 740

2.Jack Capuano 213

3.Terry Simpson 81

4.Peter Laviolette 77

5.Ted Nolan 74

Capuano is the 86th coach in NHL history to coach at least 400 games. His 213 wins places him 67th all-time, 2 behind Brent Sutter and 6 behind Herb Brooks.

Back-to-Backs

Including tonight, the Isles are 0-2-0 on the front-end of back-to-backs and 1-1-0 on the back-end. Last season, the Isles went 5-5-5 on the front-end and 9-3-3 on the back end of back-to-backs.

The Isles will play 16 sets of back-to-backs this season, but the next one is not until November 22 in Anaheim and November 23 in Los Angeles.

Tired vs. Rested

·The Isles are 1-0-0 when both teams played the night before.

·The Isles are 2-1-0 when they are rested and their opponents are not.

·The Isles are 0-1-0 when their opponents are rested and the Isles are not.

The Penguins lead the season series one game to none (and two points to none). The teams will meet twice in November in Brooklyn (11/18 and 11/30) before playing in Pittsburgh on March 24.

The Isles are 5-6-1 in their last 12 games in Pittsburgh and are 1-3-1 in their last five games overall vs. the Pens.

On The Farm

Bridgeport is 2-2-0 heading into their busy weekend. Bridgeport visits Springfield on Friday and then hosts Lehigh Valley at 7pm Saturday and Springfield at 3pm Sunday.

Up Next

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 30th –TORONTO AT ISLANDERS 6:00PM

[MSG+ (Isles Pre-game at 5:30), AM970, 88.7 WRHU-FM, 103.9 WRCN]

The Islanders begin their second five-game homestand of the season as they welcome Auston Matthews and the Toronto Maple Leafs to Brooklyn.

The Isles went 1-1-1 against Toronto last season; splitting a home-and-home series right after Christmas (with the road team winning both games) before the Leafs won a shootout in March.

Eric Hornick has been the statistician on Islander home game telecasts since 1982. Information contained in "The Skinny" has been gathered from various sources. Follow Eric @ehornick on Twitter & on his blog http://www.nyiskinny.com./

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since January 21, 1982. Visit my blog: NYISkinny.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick